A new gymnastics club will cause serious parking problems on a Draycott street, residents have claimed.

Valerie McElhinney, who has lived in Market Street for 24 years, said that people living in the street already suffer from problems due to a lack of spaces on the road.

Now, Erewash Borough Council has approved plans for a gymnastics club, The Mill Gymnastics Academy, to be built within Draycott Old Mills - a private industrial estate, just off Market Street.

But the family behind the venture said they don't expect that there will be many cars, as most parents will not wait around during class times.

Courtney Saunders, who is a founder of the club, which is opening in early 2019, said: "We've done things to alleviate the parking issues such as staggering our class times so they don't overlap.

"We've got agreements from businesses that we can use their parking spaces after 5.30pm. All the classes are grouped by school age so people will car share and we don't anticipate that many cars anyway."

But 61-year-old Mrs McElhinney said: "It's going to have a tremendous affect on the street.

"We have no problem with businesses thriving in Draycott, but residents frequently struggle to find space to park their cars within a reasonable distance of their front doors.

Mrs McElhinney said she often struggles to park on the street (Image: Derby Telegraph)

"We were very disappointed that the councillors seemed more excited about the dream of a future Olympic gymnast than listening to the concerns of more than 40 residents who live with the parking problem every day.”

Mrs McElhinney's added that people often use the street "as a park and ride", as she claimed one person left their car outside her house while they went on holiday.

Mrs McElhinney, who said residents have campaigned for parking permits for more than ten years, added: "Everyday becomes stressful thinking about where or even if, we can park adjacent to our property.

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He said: "However, the planning committee also took into account the views of Derbyshire County Council, which is the highways authority.

"The county council believed the gymnastics facility would not cause unacceptable impacts in terms of traffic generation or parking and so members were advised that refusing the application on these grounds could not be justified.

"The county council also considered that the change from industrial use of the building would reduce the potential number of large vehicles using the site, and result in movements being spread over the day rather than concentrated during normal rush hours.

Cars parked in Market Street (Image: Derby Telegraph)

"To reinforce this, the planning committee approved the application with a condition restricting opening times – meaning the facility cannot open before 10am on weekdays to avoid rush-hour traffic.

"The applicants see this as a facility for local people and the committee concluded that approving the change of use will provide a high-standard sporting facility that will encourage young people to access sport."

A spokesman for Derbyshire County Council said: "We have been asked by some residents on Market Street for a residents parking scheme previously and turned down the request, but if residents want us to have another look we’d be happy to do so.

"We are not aware of a gym opening, but would expect that parking would be available for customers of the mill on site."